Message from the bishops summit: The problem is everywhere / Boston Globe

“No bishop may say to himself, ‘This problem of abuse in the church does not concern me, because things are different in my part of the world,’” (The Boston Globe)

The unprecedented summit on clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has yet to produce major concrete reforms, but, over the past three days, at least one clear message has emerged: No church official, no matter where he comes from, should return thinking this isn’t a problem back home.

“From the beginning of the scandals, there has been a persistent undercurrent of resistance to a major churchwide reckoning from leaders in locations where the crisis has yet to erupt, both in traditional centers of Catholic power, such as Italy, and in newer ones, such as Africa. Those church leaders have often referred to clerical abuse as largely an ‘American,’ or an ‘Anglo-Saxon’ or ‘Western’ problem.